BIO
Zack Fletcher is a prolific singer-songwriter/guitarist from Ohio and bandleader of Moths in the Attic. The ghosts of his life experience pervade his uniquely crafted songs through poetic lyricism, riveting guitar patterns, and ethereal melodies. His music has been described as profound, emotional, and haunting; a musical catharsis resulting in a powerful live performance and an intimate listening experience.
'Little Hollow', a song dedicated to Fletcher's newborn son, is his latest offering released in December 2022. The new ballad has been well-received (read the coverage here) and reflects on Fletcher's latest and most important endeavor: fatherhood. This follows his Ohio Reveries collection from early 2022 inspired by his home and the places it has taken him. Each of the five tracks were released as singles, receiving considerable praise from indie publications and local press who called the songs “beautifully crafted,” “remarkable,” and “full of emotion and creativity.” Read all the press coverage here. The full collection was released in April 2022, coinciding with the Ohio Reveries Tour taking Fletcher to L.A., Toronto, Nashville, and more. The collection was recorded in Canfield, OH at Court Street Recording. Under the direction of producer Michael Estok, each recording features stunning clarity and arrangements. The collection fluidly merges his previous solo acoustic work with the larger ensemble sensibilities of his Moths in the Attic material.
​
Fletcher also serves as the bandleader and creative force behind Moths in the Attic. The folk/alt-rock outfit acts as an extension of Fletcher's writing and has showcased his material over hundreds of live performances across Ohio and beyond. Long before then, Fletcher was honing his skills as a part of various ensembles, including several years as lead guitarist for the hard-rock quartet Flaming Hot Marbles. Eventually, he was called to the timeless craft of the solo singer/songwriter to fulfill his need for pure, raw, musical and emotional expression. From his very first performances as a solo artist, he committed himself to breathing life into his music with passion and sincerity.
Following the release of his first EP, Dead Ends (2009), he performed as a solo artist around his home state and in Spain during his time abroad. An early version of 'The Traveler' first appeared as an entry for Guitar Center's Singer-Songwriter contest where the song and accompanying live performance video finished 17th in overall votes out of more than 7,000 entrants. Soon after, he began imagining a bigger sound to explore greater musicality and possibilities for the music he was writing.
Fletcher’s unique acoustic guitar-driven songs were given new life thanks to saxophonist Michael Williams and percussionist Kevin Jorrey. Together as Moths in the Attic, they began developing their live performance and recording their ambitious full length debut with reworked solo material from the era of Dead Ends. Fletcher invited ten fantastic musicians to bring their talents to the album soundscape, providing a full production of strings, piano, bass, and more surrounding the core trio's instrumentation. After much hard work recording with producer Nick De La Torre at DLT Studios the final mixes were sent for mastering at Jack White's Third Man Records. Moths in the Attic was released independently in October 2019.
Through themes exploring grief and perseverance, the layers of sound on Moths in the Attic take listeners on a journey. Fletcher was able to manipulate his own tribulations into a beautiful, haunting experience. The album yielded two singles with music videos, and positive acclaim from indie publications and blogs who called the music "captivating," "breathtaking," "pristinely executed," and "demanding repeated listening." In the spirit of the inner journey expressed in the music Fletcher decided to donate a portion of the album sales to local chapters of the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) in an effort to bring awareness to the organization locally. As a companion piece MITA also released a studio performance album to capture the live sound of the guitar/sax/percussion trio called Live Sessions. This collection features different versions of the album tracks along with previously unreleased originals and covers.
As a live outfit, the MITA trio has performed regularly at venues and festivals across the Midwest and around their NW Ohio home since 2017. They have played alongside and in support of notable artists in a myriad of genres including Tyler Childers, Helmet, Samantha Fish, The War and Treaty, and OWEL. Due to the pandemic in 2020, they were forced to cancel their first extensive tour that would have brought them to Chicago, Nashville and many other cities for the first time. Like everyone else they had to find creative ways to share their music during the pandemic, so they developed and released a home recorded YouTube series called Songs from a Distance.
Around the same time, Fletcher went back to his roots as a solo performer using the pandemic as an opportunity to ready his first solo offering since Dead Ends. Vignettes was recorded at Court Street Recording in early 2020 and released during the pandemic in hopes to inspire some tranquility, calm, and hope. The EP is an exercise in beauty and simplicity, showcasing five instrumental pieces on a single guitar. The music was inspired by loved ones and key life moments, particularly his experience hiking the Camino de Santiago in Spain with his wife as newlyweds. His song 'A Walk in the Light' from the EP was selected as the intro music for a mental health awareness podcast called i am somebody.
Throughout the years Fletcher has continued to perform and write, often out of necessity. Music is his way to filter his experience, heal the wounds, relieve the burdens, and celebrate the beauty. He has amassed an impressive back catalogue of yet to be released material and continues developing ideas to share these songs in meaningful ways, and to let these moths fly free.
